December/January Looks (Makeup & Hair)

 Hey Y'all!

Before we get into I knew I didn't wear much makeup, we were busy doing packing, storage runs, house prep, etc. 

I did think I had done a few more makeup days than this:

These are in order from my phone...

1) Early December storage run, and errands.

2) Christmas!!

Haircut!

3) Shopping/Lunch/Nephew's Birthday.

4) Husband married a total babe.

I did get 3 days out of this set though...

5) Day 1 hair.

6) Day 2 hair, dinner w/ Mom  her BF!

7) Day 3 on the hair...

8) Dr & errands.

9) Totally forgot to take a pic all day.

I definitely didn't wear makeup much these past few months...

Here's to a better February!

 

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Craft Storage in the Van

 Hey Y'all!

This is another one that really didn't need to be it's own blog since we've already talked about storage. I don't know what my plans were when I was making the blog schedule for January.

I will share the Cricut Joy tote (packed) that hubby got me from Amazon.

Previous Storage Blogs:

Craft Supplies Traveling With:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2024/01/craft-supplies-traveling-with.html

Makeup Traveling With:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2024/01/makeup-traveling-with.html

Clothes Traveling With:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2024/01/clothes-traveling-with.html

Van Storage Solutions:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2024/01/van-storage-solutions.html

Beauty Storage Solutions:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2024/01/beauty-storage-solutions-in-van.html

Situating the Van:

https://outlandadventures.blogspot.com/2024/01/situating-van-part-1-moving-in.html

I'll be taking the joy travel bag, as well as a similar one for the Explore Air 2, and a mini tote of other supplies. We also have a wrapping paper sized tote full of coloring supplies.

The top (not pictured) has the joy mats and other tools.

The Joy and mini press are under the vinyl.

The Joy and all the crafting totes/cubes fit behind the rear seat. The Air 2 is under the bed in the back, as I figured I'd use it less than the Joy. Most of this can be seen in Outland Adventures YouTube  video if you'd like to see.

Do you have any storage ideas? Share in the comments below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Books!! What I read this month...

 Hey Y'all!

I fully intended to continue reading book 2 in the Landry Series (Pearl in the Mist) however I just never was in the mood to pick it up. I did start it, and I'm sure it'll be a good read, I just failed to pick it up. I'm confident I'll finish the series this winter.

I really didn't read anything all month-- unless you count articles on van life, travel, crafting, and camping. I also read the Mississippi travel guide, and the WV guide as well... We've ordered Alabama twice, and it's never showed up. I know we can find the information online, but we find planning trips easier with a physical book we can flip through. We're old school I suppose, lol.

All the magazines, except the Tennessee one put out by the electric co-op, have quit arriving. I did flip through the TN mag- but mostly just to see the events happening nearby. (Spoiler, not much.)

Writing this makes me want to pick up a book, and today is supposed to be cool and rainy, so it's the perfect day for reading a good book!

What are you currently reading? Share in the comments below.

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

 

Beauty Storage Solutions in the Van

 Hey Y'all!

I don't know why I made this a separate blog this month, because I have shared most of the storage in the van previously. Including most of the beauty storage.

Some of it is still inside the house, like my hair styling packing cube, and soap, shampoo, etc. Those items will go in the bathroom/first aid drawer. 

Makeup Traveling With:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2024/01/makeup-traveling-with.html

Clothes Traveling With:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2024/01/clothes-traveling-with.html

Van Storage Solutions:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/2024/01/van-storage-solutions.html

Situating the Van:

https://outlandadventures.blogspot.com/2024/01/situating-van-part-1-moving-in.html

The bathroom/first aid drawer:

The red box is first aid, cubes are toiletries and medications. There's also a few loose items like dry shampoo, hairspray, camp towels, etc.

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Ask Me Anything!

 Hey Y'all!

I got one question, from twitter:

"How excited are you to start traveling?"

Extremely ready, however I was glad to still be in the house during the most recent cold snap (and snow)!

Since there was only one question I decided to answer these:

https://www.wayfaringkiwi.com/10-common-questions-i-get-asked-about-living-in-my-van/

• What made you decide to live in a van? I've shared about it before on the blog, so long story short- We've always wanted to travel, after much research this seemed like the perfect option.
• 
  
• How long are you going to be living in your van for? 2-4yrs is the plan.
• 
  
• Where do you pee? In the bathroom, lol. Public bathrooms, campgrounds, and when needed we have a portable toilet.
• 
  
• Don’t you get lonely living in a van by yourself? We have each other, and neither of us are big people person(s).
• 
  
• How much money are you saving by living in your van? Unknown, some of what was our monthly expenses will transfer over, instead of a house payment we'll have fuel, instead of electric bill we'll have the occasional campground, instead of internet we'll have maintenance, we'll still have phones, insurance, food, etc. We'll know more as we get out there, we do have a rough estimate budget and that's significantly less, but we're paying off everything when the house sale is finalized. 
• 
  
• How do you cook your meals? We have a 17in Blackstone for most all our needs, and a single burner bottle top propane stove for anything else.
• 
  
• Where do you park your van? Here, there, anywhere. We've stealth camped, campground camped, public lands, and family mooch-docked.
• 
  
• Don’t you get scared living in a van by yourself? We're a couple, so not alone. I find I'm more scared in heavily populated places that we'll get "the knock"... other than that, nope. We're pretty aware of our surroundings, and have cameras.
• 
  
• Where do you shower? We plan to get a portable, so far we always stay places with a shower (or skip a day or 2). We also plan to utilize Planet Fitness.
• 
  
• What’s the worst thing about living in a van? It feels really small on crap weather days, and we can kind of get in each others way a bit. A trade off we're perfectly okay with.

Do you have any questions for me? They can be about anything- not just van life. Share them in the comments below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Van... Snow Storm...

Hey Y'all!

We got a little bit done in the van...

...and then...

We got quite the snow storm for NE Tennessee, right at eight inches in less than 24hrs. TN is not equipped for that. The roads are finally pretty clear in most places, however it is frigid cold (like highs in the 20's and lows hovering around 0F).

So needless to say, we haven't been doing anything in the van this week. We did post a few shorts on YouTube and TikTok:

linktr.ee/outlandadventures

Chris did a bit of filming outside the other day, here's that video:

We'll get back to van "stuff" next week when the weather breaks, until then here's what we've been doing the past couple days:

We're just beginning season 4 of The Middle. We've also caught up on all the cleaning and laundry. (That was easy, lol.) We've read, and played a few switch games, jokingly turned the LR into a walking track, and y'all we are bored!

Did you get that winter storm too? What's it look like where you are? Share in the comments below.

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Just a reminder:

Van Storage Solutions

 Hey Y'all!

I'm sure it's a shock to no one that we had to downsize tremendously in the transition to van life. With that also comes the questions of  how and where to store things. Especially those needed for everyday living.

We knew we wanted (and could afford) as no build as possible in our layout. I'm sure it'll change over time, as do most van lifers vehicle layout.

We shared on Outland Adventures recently how we've situated the van so far:

 https://outlandadventures.blogspot.com/2024/01/situating-van-part-1-moving-in.html

Some of our storage solutions currently are:

1) Plastic 3 Drawer Storage- 

We like them because they're cheap, easy to clean, not much weight, and fairly durable. I had them in my craft room previously. To adapt them for van life we removed the wheels and secured the drawers from opening with Velcro closure. If we had to buy new I'd go with something just a tiny bit shorter, so they cold stack. I'd still do two of them, I'd just free up the floor space.

If you're interested in they organization of the drawers, there is a video included in the link above.

2) We're a big fan of... Totes of all sizes!

These smaller ones are great for holding our sneakers and shower shoes, we have another for the Blackstone accessories, another for craft supplies, etc. We also have a longer shorter one that has all our rainy day activities like coloring books, markers, sketchpads, etc. We use the shoe book size in the overhead (bed) storage which really helps keep that large open space a bit more neat.

3) Packing Cubes-

Organization is key, and these help. Ours are from T.J. Maxx and are prelabeled, which we don't like- but for the price we picked them up anyhow. (12pc for around $5USD.) We have one that is all first aid, one filled with medications, another with toiletries, etc. They really aid in keeping the drawers organized.

We plan to share more about our layout and storage solutions over on Outland Adventures if you'd like to follow along there.

Do you have any storage or layout suggestions? Share them in the comments below.

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Clothes Traveling With

 Hey Y'all!

In this blog I'll share all the clothes that are traveling with. If you'd like to see anything in detail let me know and I'll share it in a future blog.

All the laundry is done, and folded, ready to be packed up...

Most items from various thrift stores, or Walmart.

The maroon leggings and tan leggings are especially comfortable, have pockets, and are only $15 USD.

I'm taking 18 shirts, and 12 pair of pants. One dress, and 4 sets of pajamas. Most everything is mix 'n match. I also have about 12 pair of underwear, 10 pair of socks, and  bras of various type, a hoodie, as well as 3 pair of shoes. (Boots, sandals, and a pair of sneakers.)

Not included in the pics above is the outfit I'm wearing today:

Here are Chris's things, mostly packed:

He has a few more shirts, and a few less pants.

Is their something we're missing? Let me know in the comments below!

Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife